Catalan exports increase by 9.2% between January and April

Catalonia leads on sales abroad, doubling Madrid, which came in second in the ranking

Freight traffic at Barcelona's Port (by ACN)
Freight traffic at Barcelona's Port (by ACN) / ACN

ACN | Barcelona

June 20, 2017 04:05 PM

Catalan exports increased by 9.2% in April compared to January and reached 5.5 billion euros, according to data released today by the Spanish ministry of economy, industry and competitiveness, but dropped by 2.7% compared to April 2016. Catalan exports are 25.3% of Spanish exports overall although Catalonia makes up 16% of the population. The first four months of 2017 mark the best ever start of a year with 23.15 billion euros on aggregate. 

Catalonia leads the Spanish exports ranking by a wide margin doubling the weight of the second region, Madrid, which contributes with 11.6% of the overall. The capital area region is followed by the southern region of Andalusia (11.3%). The data also show that imports in Catalonia experienced a year-to-year decrease of 5%. Its trade deficit is 766 million, 18% less than April 2016 and 6.5% less than January 2017.

According to the April data, over a quarter of the total sales abroad (25.5%) are chemical products, whereas industrial equipment is the second most important sector in this field with 17.3%. The automobile sector comes in third representing 14.5% of the total export weight. By Catalan regions, Tarragona and Lleida lead with 5.8% and 2.7% year-to-year increases in exports respectively. Girona and Barcelona experienced a slight drop but at the same time increased their export values compared with the data from January 2017.